Photographer to turn camera on 70 for project

By Guy D’Astolfo

YOUNGSTOWN — Melanie Rae Moore is gathering the people in her extended network — all 70 of them — for a photo shoot.

The Poland resident will capture each one in a series of photographs, which she will later bind in a book. Moore, 25, also plans to hold an exhibition of the project later this year, which will be titled “My Extended Network.”

The massive photo shoot will take place Saturday at the Allstate Public Warehouse on Commerce Street, downtown. Most of the subjects are from the Youngstown area, but a few are coming in from as far away as Denver.

Moore is a 2005 graduate of the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Massachusetts. She is a native of Colorado, but grew up hearing stories about Youngstown from her father, who is a Poland native.

Though she’s lived in the Mahoning Valley for less than a year, the area already has a grip on Moore.

“I heard stories about Steel Town U.S.A. while growing up and visited family in the area annually,” she said. “My father swore that he would never come back to this town but moved our home base here in 2004 to take care of my grandmother.

“I moved to the area in August of 2008. Youngstown has since started a fire in me that I don’t care to put out.”

Moore plans to open a cafe downtown and is trying to raise capital. The proceeds from “My Extended Network” will go toward that goal.

The models for the photo project are men and women ages 17 to 35, including family, friends, professional models, students, business people, work associates and just people she met in the grocery store. Moore rounded them up over a one-month period.

“I have been scouting within my daily routine, asking people that I see if they are interested,” explained Moore. “I have also used modeling sites, MySpace, Craigslist ... I asked for all shapes, sizes and colors. The results are fairly diverse.”

She doesn’t know them all, but as Moore pointed out, no one has met everyone in their extended network. “I am excited to capture a moment with each one of these specific people,” she said.

While the title — “My Extended Network” — did come from My-Space, the online social networking site was not the inspiration for the project. “The idea of an extended network is interesting to me,” said Moore. “Are we all connected? The name fit perfectly.”

Rae realizes that an artsy photographic book might not be on everyone’s list of must-haves, especially in light of the economic situation. But hard times “should discourage no one to create, collaborate, communicate,” she said.

For more information, contact Photography by Melanie Rae, 660 N. Main St., Poland, OH 44514; e-mail: Melanie_Rae_@hotmail.com.